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HARD TIMES

HARD TIMES. CHAPTER 24 SECTION 2. FACING UNEMPLOYMENT. “These unemployed are dead men, they are ghosts that walk the street” 1929 1.5 Million were unemployed Langston Hughes – “Everybody in America is looking for work” Wages fall to 10 cents an hour Reduced hours

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HARD TIMES

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  1. HARD TIMES CHAPTER 24 SECTION 2

  2. FACING UNEMPLOYMENT • “These unemployed are dead men, they are ghosts that walk the street” • 1929 1.5 Million were unemployed • Langston Hughes – “Everybody in America is looking for work” • Wages fall to 10 cents an hour • Reduced hours • Immigration greatly decreased

  3. American Workers • Racial discrimination when laying off employees • White workers in Chicago • “African Americans should not be hired as long as there are white men without work • Domestic Servants lost jobs and stood on the street corner to receive daily work • “Bronx Slave Market” • Percentage of women in the work force increased in the 1930’s • Competition in domestic jobs lead to decrease of African American Women working • 6,000 unemployed workers sold apples on the street for a nickel

  4. Life in the city • Americans fighting over scraps of food • Little federal government assistance • Local communities, city governments, religious groups, the salvation army, and the Red Cross tried to provide relief. • Breadlines – bowls of soup and pieces of bread • Shantytowns – collections of makeshift shelters built out of packing boxes, scrap lumber, corrugated iron, and other thrown away items. • Neighbors helping neighbors • Mutualistas– Mexican American formed mutual aide society • Chinese – Barrels of Rice • Harlem – Rent parties

  5. Life on the Farm • Urban residents could no longer purchase farm products • Prices drop • Farmers in some areas were forced to let crops rot in the field and slaughter excess livestock they could not afford to feed. • Banks foreclose on farms • Foreclosure auctions • Ex; 800 mortgage, sold for $1.90, and items were given back to the owner • Iowa passed laws that temporarily banned foreclosure sales • South – Cotton prices fall from 16 cents per Lb. in 1929 to 6 cents by 1931 • Tenant famers forced off of their land – Mostly African Americans • Southwest – Illegal aliens deported back to Mexico • 500,000 people of Mexican descent some of them U.S. citizens were pressured into leaving the country

  6. Farm Continued • Organized against discrimination in the Southwest. • Josefina Fierro de Bright • Moved often • Changed schools 8 times • “Rely on yourself, be independent” • 1938 University of California at Los Angeles • Planned to study medicine, activism took up most of her time • Led boycotts of companies that did business in Mexican American communities but did not hire Mexican American workers • El Congreso – organized Hispanic migrants to resist oppressive conditions • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi0j8FYEM7s

  7. Family Life • Family members pull together to help one another cope with their difficulties • Changing roles of family members trying to survive the depression • Marriage rate fell dramatically during the depressionand birthrates declined • In rural and small town households women made their own soap and baked their own bread

  8. Psychological effects • The term depression described the mood of the country as much as it did the economy • More than 20,000 Americans committed suicide • 28% increase over 1929 • Many men and women who were now unemployed were consumed with guilt • Wealthy and middle class families were delivered a cruel blow and shame about being unemployed • Habits of scrimping and saving and making every penny count would stay with members of this generation for the rest of their lives.

  9. Popular Culture in 1930’s • 1930’s baseball was the countries favorite sport • Cheap entertainment for fansdue to radio broadcast • Lower ticket sales • 1933 owners organized the first all-star baseball game • In 1935 Larry MacPhail of the Cincinnati Reds revolutionized the sport by introducing night baseball games. • Owners maintained a so-called gentleman’s agreement not to sign black players • African Americans played in their own leagues • Future hall of famers Satchel Paige and William “Judy” Johnson

  10. Pop. Culture Continued • Used for escape • Low ticket prices to the movies • 1930’s the favorite movies were gangster films that portrayed tough guys fighting their way to the top • Women such as Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, Mae West, and Marlene Dietrich reinforced the theme of survival in a difficult world • Walt Disney – Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck • Disney cartoons were often as popular as feature films • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8toW3eCN0Vg

  11. Popular Culture continued • Radio in 1930’s rose from 12 million to 28 million • Popular programs such as Lone Ranger, Little Orphan Annie, and the Shadow always triumphed over evil • Literature • Inexpensive Comic Books • Flash Gordon and Tarzan • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OROLRvKamdE • Not all fiction offered an escape • James T Farrell wrote about the grim life of Chicago Irish Immigrants • William Faulkner wrote The Sound and Fury and As I Lay Dying which portrayed tragic events in small-town Mississippi

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